Oral tetracycline antibiotics are frequently used in the treatment of acne. One of the most effective oral tetracycline antibiotics used in the treatment of acne it is minocycline. All tetracycline antibiotics are known to have some side effects. These side effects include vestibular symptoms such as vertigo, dizziness or blurred vision. These effects are sometimes disabling. See, Gould & Brookler, Arch. Otolarang. Vol. 96, p. 291 (1972); Williams et al., Lancet, Sep. 28, 1974, p. 144-45; Fanning & Gump, Arch. Intern. Med., Vol. 136, pp. 761-62 (1976). Headache and general malaise, along with gastro-intestinal symptoms such as the diarrhea, nausea, gas, or cramps also occur. Dry nose and dry mouth are also occasionally encountered.
Dosage forms of oral tetracycline antibiotics are typically constructed with a view towards achieving rapid dissolution rates. Rapid dissolution is believed to be essential to the effectiveness of these drugs. The driving force behind this practice is the understanding that rapid dissolution leads to rapid assimilation through the gut lining, where the antibiotics are then transmitted through the blood stream to the skin, where they are active against bacteria associated with acne. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established standards for dissolution rates for various oral antibiotics. These standards set minimum dissolution rates. For example, the FDA standard for oral minocycline is that 75 percent of the stated dosage must have dissolved within 45 minutes, under standard U.S. Pharmacopea test conditions. Commercial products are typically engineered to have a dissolution rates which are substantially faster than that required by the FDA. All of this is based upon the generally accepted belief in the art that, while dissolution rates enhance the effectiveness of the antibiotic, once the FDA minimum dissolution rate is achieved, all products have equivalent safety and efficacy.